Tag: knoxville tn

Not in Knoxville?! You can still help foster families. See voucher below for details.

Purpose of MuggleCon Event:

Celebrate the release of the NEW Harry Potter Illustrated Edition book

Help foster families by raising funds for local charity, Transfiguring Adoption

In-store Knoxville Activities and Fun:

During this three day celebration people from ages 5 to 99 will enjoy various activities to celebrate the release of the first illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. For a detailed listing of activities please call Barnes and Noble, Knoxville. A sample of events you will enjoy:

October 28, Saturday:

10:00 am – Tea Leaf Reading SessionJoin us for a fun, pretend experience suitable for children and adults.

11:00 am – Hogwarts House Trivia Contest
Participants will play against other Hogwarts houses to see who can win the Quiz Master Cup. Children and adults are welcomed to place this fun game of wits and strategy as teams win and use spells against other teams.

12:00 – 3:00 pm – Quidditch DemonstrationsNox Quidditch (Knoxville’s Community Team) will be on hand in the parking lot to give demonstrations and hands-on fun about he game of muggle quidditch. The team loves answering questions.

1:00 pm – Wizards ChessAudience volunteers will be used as real life chess pieces as two of our champion chess players go head to head in the chess game of the century.

2:00 pm – Kids’ Costume Contest

7:00 pm – Yule Ball

Crafts, small activities, and a community puzzle table will be available to do on your own throughout the day.

Anyone, ANYWHERE Can Help Children like Harry Potter:

Harry Potter himself was an orphan and there are many children in United States that find themselves separated from their birth parents for a plethora of reasons. Unfortunately many foster parents would say that they are not equipped to handle trauma caused issues such as sexual abuse behaviors, malnutrition behaviors, PTSD, and so on. Transfiguring Adoption provides foster & adoptive parents tools and resources that allow them to better hand past trauma and nurture children.(Click Here for More Details.)

Everyone, EVERYWHERE can join Barnes & Noble Knoxville as they help support foster families. During October 28, 2017 a percentage of every purchase you make ONLINE or In Store goes funding resources for caregivers such as online learning panels, media discussion guides, foster family kits, and MUCH MORE.

Present the voucher to a B&N staff member before making a purchase in-store or from the cafe.

Online purchases: Visit bn.com/bookfairs to do your shopping. On the payment page make sure to choose the box, “Check if this is a bookfair order.” You will then be asked to type in the ID code on the voucher.

The Beginning…

Hi. I am Jasmine and I want to tell you about what I have been through when I was a foster kid. I didn’t have a good childhood till I was 6. I was taken [away from my biological home] with my baby brother when I was four years old. My brother was 15 months old then. I was playing outside in my backyard when I was told to get my brother and go with a lady. She took us to a new home. I remember being told I would stay here for a while so my mom could talk to some people.

Moving from Home to Home

I can’t remember much of that home, but I do remember staying with a nice old lady in the woods where I caught lizards, snakes, and frogs. We were happy there, but she couldn’t take care of us. I can still smell the pines. I was sad when we left.

I can’t remember the next home, but one home was a nightmare! The lady we lived with hated me, but loved Dalton. Her son teased me and put me in timeout for hours! The only thing I liked about them was their pool.

My Adopted Home

I came to the Fink house. This house was what we needed all along. We like it here and [my brother and I were] adopted by the Finks. This is the nicest home we have ever been to. Shortly after we came here, we met Matthew and Cody. [Our family began doing visits with them with the intention to adopt them.] They are now my adopted brothers. Today I am 11, Matthew is 14, Cody is 16, and Dalton is 8. We love our home. This family is a strong one, also mom and I are very similar to each other. We like the same things and are pretty.

Hi Everybody! My name is Betsy and I met the Finks back in college (when Darren was the only Fink). I have been following them and their journey with their precious children through social media, and was really happy to see their vision for this site! I love the idea of using the absolutely fun and exciting tales of Harry Potter as an instrument to facilitate discussion between children and parents, and this page is, in my humble opinion, a fantastic tool for foster/adoptive families to make it “work” with everyone in the household.

So, imagine the honor I felt when Darren asked me to contribute to the Transfiguring Adoption site. I was super excited to start writing, and had floods of ideas. But, as the days went by, and as I started sorting my thoughts, I began to wonder, “why me?” what do I have to contribute that people out there might find useful/helpful? I felt very nervous and afraid (in fact, jittery) that I might not know how to approach these topics. It took me little bit of thought and prayer to think of the answer. I am a parent. I am not the best parent who ever lived, but darn it, I am trying.

But what might also help me lend a hand on this page is the fact that I was surrendered and adopted at a young age (much like Harry, except nobody tried to kill me). I understand the feelings from an adoptive child’s position, and I remember them quite well.

So, here goes it:
One concept in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone that appealed to me was about how Harry must have felt when he was rescued from Mr. & Mrs. Dursley’s home by Hagrid, and how foreign his “new life” must have been. Perhaps, in a later post, I will discuss Hagrid’s rescue of Harry, but for now, I would like to focus on Harry’s strange new world, and how that relates to the feelings of foster/adoptive children.

Much like Harry, adoptive/foster children are sometimes “thrown” into a very foreign, different new world, and they have a difficult time handling all of the changes. They feel confused, disoriented, and scared. Not learning how to handle all of these feelings, and not having a proper grasp on the rules of a new home may result in rebellious activities, battles of wills, and general unrest in their new environment. The Finks wrote a very important post on how the first night is the hardest. They gave fantastic tips for helping with this difficult transition, but I feel like this is a very important concept and I wanted to discuss it further.

Harry came from a place where he was neglected, made to feel like he was a burden, and bullied, to a new place where he was cherished and the people (and creatures) around him were invested in not only protecting him from the evils he may face, but in guiding him to learn, grow, and thrive. I can only imagine what was going through young Mr. Potter’s mind when he went shopping for his school supplies and then getting on the train to go to his new school (home).

Discussion Questions:

How do you think Harry felt when he saw Diagon Alley for the first time?

Do you think Harry was worried about all of the people around him talking about him?

When Harry is being fitted for his uniform, he meets a young man who makes him doubt himself and his ability to fit in. Do you ever feel like an outsider? What are some ways you know you are accepted?

If you could buy any magical item from Diagon Alley, what would you get and why?

Have you ever felt the jitters when you tried something new? Would you have gladly leapt through the wall at Platform 9 3/4, or would you enter with caution?

Going to a new school and having a different sort of family than you are used to around you can make you nervous. Who did Harry meet to help him with his transition? Who do you think can help you with your transition?

What is up with all of those weird kinds of candy Hogwarts kids like to eat? Would you try any of them?

So, I made it through my writing jitters, and there you have it, a discussion of our feelings in a new place doing foreign things. I hope you find these questions and my views helpful in your journey. Thanks for reading, and may you be blessed on your journey. The best is yet to come!